The 0730 driver's meeting again came way too early for most of us. But, there we were ... ready, eager, and hungry for some speed runs. Again we split up, but since I had watched the Doppler radar in the hotel room, I wondered just how much driving we were going to get in...turns out I was more optimistic than was warranted.
We had just spilt out to our run groups, and were on our way back to the garage area when the first lightening bolts lit up the skies....KE-RACCCCK! Man, I thought, that was close. Closer than I realized, as it turned out. Within 20 minutes the skies had turned from grey ominous looking clouds to dark blue skies with bolts of lightening flashing all around us.
And then the rains came.
...and came.
...and came.
...and came.
At one time, the paddock area had at least 20-24 inches of water in it all trying to get down one of the storm sewers....it looked like a geyser...water shooting up from the sewer grate about 3-4 feet in the air. Water...lots of it...Oh, look...here comes some more!
Luckily, I was secure in garage #20, down near the exit from the hot pit area. I had already began to swap back to my street tires when the monsoon season began. One of the Rolex teams had already started to unload into the garage area when the dam burst. I waded out to talk to them...all I needed was about 30-40 minutes and I'd be out of their way. No problem, they replied, take your time, we're not in the garage area officially until 1200 noon. Nice buncha guys... Besides...it was raining cats-n-dogs and coming down so fast they didn't want to be out in it either. So, I was able to change my tires, put my street tires back on, and make sure I was ready for the LCS.
It finally slowed down a bit, so I got my trailer and backed it up to the door of the garage. I was able to load up without taking my SPF out in the rain. Lucky...I know it. Back to the hotel we headed to watch some in-car video I had taken from my lip-stick camera during Tuesday evening's track time sessions...
...maybe have a few drinks...you know how we are....
That evening, we headed off to a local bar-n-grill where we met up with Kumpy and more OCC folks for some bench racing and dinner.
Okay....and maybe have a few drinks....you know how we are....
